Notes From the Field: Australia Edition

Cathy Traugot

If you sign up to use Bronto in Australia, you’ll likely work with Izaak the Enforcer at first.

His real name is Izaak Horner, and he’s a professional services project manager in our Australia office. But to Hairhouse Warehouse’s National ICT Manager Viv Paverd and his staff, he’s Izaak the Enforcer. It’s definitely a term of endearment.

“Izaak got on the phone and told us what we were going to do. He was so rigid with the times and the dates and the minutes and hours that we were going to spend on each part of the process,’’ says Paverd, who spoke at Commerce Marketing Spotlight in Melbourne, one of two events we recently hosted in Australia. “This 60-day onboarding thing is fantastic.’’

Hairhouse Warehouse has two ecommerce sites and 140 stores for both its franchise organization and the public. During his talk, Paverd detailed other aspects of his email program – their experience with testing, the process of moving from batch-and-blast to segmented sends and the importance of emails that read well on a mobile device.

Segmentation has been a particularly big win for the brand. The team creates segments for each franchised store to allow messaging that encourages customers to visit the stores for events and specials.

The goal of Commerce Marketing Spotlight is to get marketers sharing with other marketers about what works, what doesn’t and how Bronto fits into it all. Here’s a brief look at what some of the other presenters had to say in Australia.

Consider the Value of Co-Branded Marketing

Leonie Henzell, founder and managing director of Bockers & Pony, shared how her company uses sweepstakes and competitions developed with other upscale brands to raise awareness for their luxury gift hamper company. The company has worked with a champagne producer, an artistic photo portrait company, a natural cosmetics brand and a cold brew coffee brand.

Henzell said the key to turning a co-branding event into a successful marketing opportunity is using Bronto’s Pop-up Manager and webform to secure email subscribers in a manner that allows the company to continue marketing to them. Bockers & Pony doesn’t just start blasting customers who may have been intrigued to sign up by the chance to win a champagne-filled hamper. The company has a welcome series and a cart recovery program. And it’s a good tactic. Gaining subscribers through competitions, giveaways and sweepstakes can backfire when those who only signed up to win decide to unsubscribe or mark your messages as spam.

Several thousand subscribers later, Henzell also credits the co-branding success to careful teamwork with the partner company. “The goals and outcomes really need to be articulated and shared in the beginning.” Digital teams for both brands need to be well aligned. “Both brands (need to be) promoting the collaboration.”

Send Emails That Resonate With Your Audience

In Sydney, EHPLabs Director of Customer Experience Julie McConnell talked about email strategy for the company’s four brands. McConnell segments content for the health and fitness supplement company for the different types of people that like their products. “You speak differently to people who are running a marathon vs. those who are trying to lose weight.’’

“We’ve created some unique content that helps educate them so they can actually smash out their goals,’’ McConnell said.

She has also used email for surveys and found some fascinating insights: Their customers would love for them to promote clothing to go with their newly adopted healthy lifestyles.

And messages with segmented content have driven conversion rates up. While traditional emails convert at around 4 to 5%, segmented emails to one of their product groups convert at 13%. “That’s been a game changer for us.’’

Nick Garland, co-founder and site architect for The Block Shop, also made a compelling case for personalized email. “The difference between the generic (emails) and personalized ones, is phenomenal,” says Garland. His company’s online homewares store features furniture that has been on the popular AU reality TV show “The Block.”

The Block Shop’s personalized emails convert at more than 7x the rate of traditional batch-and-blast emails. “I was blown away by these numbers – 87% better on open rate, click rate 60% better, and the revenue per email was 2500% better.” And it’s straightforward to set up triggered emails. If you’re not tailoring your messaging to your customers’ preferences and triggering messages based on their shopping behaviors, it’s time to start.

Build Your Brand and Generate Engagement With an Event

Ever heard of a surfing dog? VetShopAustralia’s co-founder and director of marketing Steven Perrissinotto told the group about the idea behind their annual contest and how to make the most of the interest and goodwill you can generate from such an event. VetShopAustralia sells non-prescription pet medications and supplies, and the video viewership and attendance at their surfing dog contest encourages people to subscribe to their emails. You can read more about the event in this blog post, including how he uses workflows and triggered messages.

In talking with the crowd in Sydney, Perissinotto drove home this message: “We’re using pop-ups, we’re using workflows, we’re using segmentation. And if you’re not already, you really should be doing it.”

Want to hear more from successful commerce marketers and industry leaders? Join us for our next Commerce Marketing Spotlight events in 2018. Stay tuned for more details.